Whoa whoa whoa, Marcus Stroman actually performed well?! He sure did Bob, with a solid line of 6.2 IP, 1 ER, 5 Hits, 1 BBs, 6 Ks against the Tribe. Now I will not tell you that he’s figured it out and is now a must add blah blah blah. I will say that he used his Slider more (the most all season near 30%) and got a bunch more whiffs with it and that’s cool. He’s still not getting nearly the type of movement on his Sinker that he had last season (over three inches less horizontal movement!), and I wouldn’t put weight into this, unfortunately. Once I see the movement return to his heater, then we’ll talk.
Let’s see what every other SP did yesterday:
Michael Fulmer – 7.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 Hits, 1 BBs, 10 Ks. I really hope you jumped on board when he focused mightily on using his Changeup. The dude has been a stud to the tune of a 8.42 K/9, 2.81 BB/9 and 0.53 ERA (2.96 FIP) over his last 8 starts. At least six innings per game as well. Don’t sell as the Tigers will skip a start here and there to conserve his innings through the season and the chance is still there that he helps you during your playoffs.
Bud Norris – 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 Hits, 1 BBs, 8 Ks. Alright, I had to figure out what it was that has transformed Norris because there is something clearly up. The answer is a Cutter that is getting a whopping 23% whiffs since he started throwing it upon his return to the Braves rotation in June. So this isn’t all just noise, that Cutter is getting a bunch more vertical drop than a typical Cutter and it’s messing up hitters. Now the real test comes next time out against the O’s on Wednesday and if he gets through that…My god.
Jaime Garcia – 8.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 Hits, 4 BBs, 6 Ks. Our Call Boy did his job beautifully even with those four walks. He gets the Pirates next and I would roll with him.
Mike Fiers – 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 4 Hits, 2 BBs, 4 Ks. Fiers is doing what he can to get back in my good graces, and hey, his ERA is 1.57 is his last four starts! With a 4.59 FIP, 5.13 xFIP and just a 5.09 K/9. Yiiiikes.
Miguel Gonzalez – 7.0 IP, 2 ER, 3 Hits, 2 BBs, 4 Ks. Miguel…No.
Jacob DeGrom – 5.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 Hits, 1 BBs, 7 Ks. Aces gonna ace. Would have been longer but the rain cut him short at 85 pitches. So it goes.
Jeremy Hellickson – 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 5 Hits, 1 BBs, 6 Ks. Don’t…Tempt me…Hellickson. Seriously, don’t give in.
Wade LeBlanc – 6.0 IP, 2 ER, 3 Hits, 1 BBs, 5 Ks. Sooooo LeBlanc had another good start, and has now produced against the Cardinals and the Orioles. Sorry but I need to a debbie downer. He throws high 80s and is well outperforming his 4.13 xFIP and 4.24 SIERA. Yep, that’s a TEEs.
Colin Rea – 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 Hits, 1 BBs, 5 Ks. Is this Rea life? Nah, just fantasy.
Ervin Santana – 6.1 IP, 2 ER, 3 Hits, 3 BBs, 5 Ks. Ehhhhh I don’t want to be trusting Santana, even if this is pretty deece. Is that short for decent? It just flows better, you know?
Josh Tomlin – 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 7 Hits, 2 BBs, 8 Ks. I watched this game and hate that I couldn’t endure all 19 innings – I had things to do like my weekly Reddit AMA – but Tomlin was getting a boatload of help from Vic Carapazza, whose strikezone was bigger than my appetite for high upside. I KNOW! Still, wide zone or not, this is pretty impressive against the Jays…though Joey Bats is out and EE was ejected in the first inning on what should have been ball four. Whatever, keep rolling with Tomlin if you’ve got him (duh).
Martin Perez – 7.0 IP, 2 ER, 5 Hits, 3 BBs, 4 Ks. Sooooo boring. I expect no less from the TEEs that you are Perez.
Anthony DeSclafani – 6.2 IP, 2 ER, 6 Hits, 2 BBs, 8 Ks. Tony Disco was faced against the Nats and looked pretttty good. It’s like trying a questionable foreign food and being shocked when it tastes delicious. Too bad he gets the Cubs next, I do like him a lot for the second half, though.
Jorge De La Rosa – 7.0 IP, 2 ER, 5 Hits, 4 BBs, 4 Ks. De La Rosa has limited upside, pitches his home games at Coors Field, and doesn’t deserve a spot on your team. This should be the blurb for every Colorado starter not named Gray and maybe even Gray.
Johnny Cueto – 7.0 IP, 4 ER, 7 Hits, 0 BBs, 9 Ks. Cueto got off to a horrible start and allowed 3 ER in the first inning. Then he went baller and that was that.
Tanner Roark – 7.0 IP, 2 ER, 8 Hits, 2 BBs, 4 Ks. Ehhhh I want more from Roark during this easy schedule – this is the Reds duder! – but whatever, I’ll take it.
Kevin Gausman – 6.0 IP, 3 ER, 8 Hits, 0 BBs, 7 Ks. Even against a tough matchup in Seattle Gausman gives us a great amount of Ks, a QS, and a WHIP we can kinda stomach. You can thank 0 walks for that. I hope you guys trust me now having Gausman easily Top 50.
Jeff Locke – 5.0 IP, 3 ER, 3 Hits, 3 BBs, 3 Ks. Stop following the rule of threes! It’s makes you look rudimentary, is redundant, and doesn’t do anything extra to get your point across.
Ian Kennedy – 5.0 IP, 3 ER, 6 Hits, 3 BBs, 8 Ks. After going double digits in Ks last outing, it’s nice to see the Ks still flowing against the Phils. But he gets the Jays next and I’m benching.
Drew Smyly – 6.2 IP, 4 ER, 6 Hits, 4 BBs, 8 Ks. Even when the Rays aren’t playing the Sawx/O’s/Blue Jays, they’ve been playing the Mariners and Tigers. It’s just not fair!
Shelby Miller – 6.0 IP, 5 ER, 8 Hits, 2 BBs, 5 Ks. Miller is a decent stream these days, nothing more. The Giants aren’t a good stream and voila.
Julio Teheran – 6.2 IP, 5 ER, 11 Hits, 0 BBs, 6 Ks. He got off to a rough start with 3 ER off two bombs in the first, but the hits just kept coming all night. I expect a rebound against the Phils, I don’t think this is the full regression to his FIP/xFIP just yet.
Justin Nicolino – 5.0 IP, 4 ER, 7 Hits, 1 BBs, 1 Ks. Just No.
Steven Wright – 5.0 IP, 4 ER, 8 Hits, 3 BBs, 3 Ks. That’s two straight blegh starts from Wright…I’m getting a little worried guys.
Sonny Gray – 6.0 IP, 7 ER, 7 Hits, 1 BBs, 4 Ks. Pittsburgh has been really bad in the last month – 28th in wOBA – and Gray allows a crooked 7 spot after looking bad against the Rangers. Can’t someone please step up and rebound this season? So Gray has performed well since returning, but only against weak teams. I’m cautious, though I do think he still returnings low 30s value or so rest of the way.
Matt Garza – 5.2 IP, 4 ER, 9 Hits, 3 BBs, 6 Ks. Look at Garza, still making owners feel like this.
Nathan Eovaldi – 4.1 IP, 6 ER, 7 Hits, 3 BBs, 2 Ks. Eovaldi can’t even handle the Padres and things are so bad right now. Your velocity has no power here.
Jhoulys Chacin – 4.2 IP, 5 ER, 12 Hits, 2 BBs, 4 Ks. Come on Chacin, you know you felt a little bad for the Angels when they dealt for you in the first place.
Jason Hammel – 4.0 IP, 10 ER, 9 Hits, 2 BBs, 3 Ks. Ho boy. Can’t say anyone expected him to fall so hard against the Mets of all teams. It was a little wet outside, but I don’t think you should put any weight on that. He gets the Braves next to round out his first half, and I think you’ll be fine throwing him out there.
Today’s Streamers
Bud Norris vs. Miami Marlins – Danny Duffy vs. Philadelphia Phillies – Norris had to go get traded after his hot streak of starts (nice job Braves!) and Duffy has most likely been dropped a bit after his previous cold streak.
Tomorrow’s Streamer
Adam Conley vs. Atlanta Braves – Conley is exactly the kind of pitcher that you’d want to stream against a weak team, and he gets one of the worst on Sunday.
Day After Tomorrow’s Streamer
Archie Bradley vs. San Diego Padres – With Greinke out for at least one start, Bradley gets this matchup against the Friars and I want all parts of it, even with his somewhat disappointing outing against the Phils last time. If Jerad Eickhoff is still available, he also has a sweet date with the Braves.
Game of the Day
Aaron Nola vs. Danny Duffy – I want to see A) Duffy capitalize against the Phils and B) to see if Nola has made any improvements thus far. I don’t expect a Nola rebound til the second half, but I’d be super happy to see it now.